1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to wireless communications and more particularly relates to networked wireless communications devices such as mobile computing devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are numerous fields that employ wireless communications. For example, the automatic data collection (ADC) field may employ wireless communications to communicatively couple one or more ADC devices, for example, mobile computing devices such as machine-readable symbol readers (e.g., barcode scanners), radio frequency identification (RFID) readers or interrogators, magnetic stripe readers, or other mobile computing devices. Wireless communications may allow handheld or mobile computing devices or clients to roam anywhere throughout an enterprise, without losing a network connection.
Wireless environments may include one or more wireless access points (WAPs) that are available to provide wireless communications, typically between a server or host and the handheld or mobile computing devices. From time to time, the mobile computing devices typically try to establish wireless communications with a WAP, which is commonly referred to as roaming. Often times the wireless environment is dynamic. The WAPs typically do not provide homogenous coverage throughout a given area. New WAPs may be added, or existing WAPs may be removed or moved. The signal strength of the WAPs may change from time-to-time, for example in response to a controller. Obstacles or other environmental factors may intermittently present interference with wireless communications.
Providing reliable wireless communications in a dynamic environment has proven to be a challenge. Reliability may be important for several reasons. Reliability may allow continuous wireless communications between the mobile computing device and one or more devices, servers, hosts, databases or networks. Increased reliability may allow mobile computing devices to require less storage (e.g., memory), thereby advantageously reducing cost, weight, and/or size of such devices. Enhanced reliability ensures that users of such devices will be efficient, and not having to wait for establishment of a network or other connection. Consequently, optimizing wireless communications in a dynamic wireless environment is highly desirable. Since establishing communications via a WAP with the strongest signal strength may enhance reliability, taking into account signal strengths of various available WAPs is also highly desirable.